Motor vehicles, such as hatchbacks and station wagon automobiles, small vans and the like frequently have loading or storage spaces, e.g., luggage or trunk spaces, behind the rear seats of the vehicles. Several attempts have been made to improve the storage functionality of such luggage or trunk spaces.
One such example is provided by document U.S. Pat. No. 6,546,598, which relates to a vehicle luggage compartment structure, facilitating the putting in and taking out of small articles from a tray provided in a luggage compartment, and enabling the luggage compartment to be partitioned by the tray by fixing a box to a floor surface of the luggage compartment.
A first protruding portion and a second protruding portion for engagement of the tray of U.S. Pat. No. 6,546,598 are engaged with a first guide groove and a first anchor hole of the box, respectively, to hold the tray in the box. By sliding the first protruding portion for engagement along the first guide groove to pull the tray out to the rear of the vehicle, a top wall of the luggage compartment no longer covers an open top side of the tray, thereby enabling small articles to be easily placed into and taken out from the tray. Moreover, by swinging the first protruding portion for engagement downward along a second guide groove to fix the tray substantially vertically, the luggage compartment can be partitioned by the tray, so that damage to the articles due to moving and the like in the luggage compartment can be prevented.
In addition to the effects produced by the functions as a tray and a partition, there is an effect described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,546,598 which enables more of the luggage compartment to be used since the tray can be easily and completely removed from the luggage compartment.
However, there is still room for improvement in the above field.